Heavy Canadian Oil Drops Before Midcontinent Refinery Work Start

Oct. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Western Canada Select weakened before
the start of planned maintenance at U.S. midcontinent
refineries, which will reduce demand from plants that typically
process Alberta crudes.

BP Plc’s Whiting, Indiana, refinery, the Midwest’s largest,
will shut a crude unit known as Pipestill 12 starting Nov. 1 for
work scheduled to last 100 days, a person familiar with the
maintenance said April 19.

HollyFrontier Corp. will idle the 90,000-barrel-a-day West
plant in Tulsa, Oklahoma, starting in November for work
scheduled to last about five weeks, a person with knowledge of
the repairs said June 28.

Western Canada Select for November traded at a $14 discount
to West Texas Intermediate, according to Net Energy Inc., a
Calgary-based trading system. Yesterday, the grade was at $11
below the U.S. benchmark, data compiled by Bloomberg showed.

November Syncrude traded at a $7 premium to WTI, Net Energy
said. It was $10.75 above the U.S. benchmark yesterday,
according to Bloomberg data. Bakken traded at a $3 premium to
WTI, Net Energy said.

U.S. Gulf Coast oils strengthened. Heavy Louisiana Sweet’s
premium to WTI increased $1.30 to $21.15 a barrel as of 11:53
a.m. New York time, according to data collected by Bloomberg.
Light Louisiana Sweet added $1.10 to $19.95.